"Mr. Edward, allow me to offer my best wishes in advance for the success of our collaboration." At Ghost Films Pictures, Yellow smiled warmly and shook Edward's hand. Edward also returned a polite smile.
The signing process went very smoothly. After all, both companies were highly satisfied with the terms of the partnership. All Edward needed to do was agree to allow the Rotom Phone to utilize the intellectual property of One Missed Call, and as for the Rotom Company's design proposals, Edward found them very pleasing—they perfectly replicated some of the key settings and aesthetics from the film.
"Mr. Bright, I wanted to ask—when will the new Rotom Phone model hit the market?" Edward asked, somewhat curious. He planned to purchase one for himself as well.
After all, it was a collaborative product tied to his company's film. As the company's director, it was only natural that he show his support.
"Our company has already finalized the templates. All that's left is to update the phone's internal software and train the Rotom units accordingly. If everything proceeds smoothly, our company's new phone model should be on the market in about three days," Yellow replied promptly.
Edward was a bit surprised. It seemed the Rotom Company was fully committed to this collaboration and had begun preparations quite early. Otherwise, there was no way they could move at such a rapid pace.
But that made sense. After all, when partnering with a movie, if you don't launch the collaborative product while the film is still trending, then its market impact later on won't be as effective.
Audience memory has its limits.
The longer time passes, the fuzzier that memory becomes. Though Edward had some special techniques to ensure that audiences would retain a vivid impression of One Missed Call, Yellow and his team obviously weren't privy to that knowledge. So naturally, they were eager to push the tie-in phone model out as soon as possible.
This also piqued Edward's interest in Nemona's older sister. She seemed to be quite the capable career woman. He wondered what she looked like. In the original game, Nemona's sister never made an appearance.
"You're the one who played Mizunuma Mimiko?!" On the other side of the room, Nemona was staring in shock at the Zoroark standing before her. She was having a hard time believing what she was seeing. In the movie, Mizunuma Mimiko was portrayed as a frail and sickly little girl—but the person standing before her now was clearly a tall, well-built young man.
How could that kind of person have played the role of Mizunuma Mimiko?
"Yes, that's right~" Zoroark's eyes twinkled as it looked at Nemona with amusement.
Nemona opened her mouth, about to speak—but then she caught sight of something in the mirror beside them. In the reflection, the person standing in front of her was no longer a young man, but a little girl with waist-length hair dressed in a white sundress. She stood barefoot, and there were corpse-like bruises visible on her calves.
Nemona's expression froze.
She looked in alarm between the mirror and the Zoroark before her, who was still watching her with a mischievous, eerie smile. She couldn't help but swallow hard.
So this was how Director Edward managed to shoot horror films so realistically—he actually hired real ghosts to act in them!
"Oh no, looks like you found me out~." Zoroark's voice suddenly shifted into Mizunuma Mimiko's exact tone. Then, with a slight tilt of its head, its pupils vanished into pure white. Its large hands transformed into Mimiko's pale, sickly ones—one of which now held a piece of candy.
Nemona instinctively took a step back.
She knew what that candy meant.
In the movie, every time Mizunuma Mimiko killed someone, she would give them a piece of candy. Even after being abused by her sister, she had offered her one. What kind of psychological condition did that reflect again?
So… was she about to be attacked?
"Come forth, Greninja!" Nemona shouted, hurling a Poké Ball with practiced speed. A moment later, a sleek and powerful Greninja appeared in front of Zoroark, instantly assuming a battle stance.
"I'm not going down without a fight! Greninja, use Dark Pulse!" Nemona shouted with fierce determination.
People often respond to fear in one of two extreme ways: either they collapse under the weight of their terror, frozen and helpless, or they convert that fear into rage—a blazing fury that empowers them. Clearly, Nemona was the latter type.
"Wait—hold on!" Just as Nemona gave her command, Edward burst onto the scene.
He had just been inside the office, discussing final details of the collaboration with Yellow. Yellow had even promised to send Edward a flagship edition of the One Missed Call themed Rotom Phone once production was complete. Edward had happily agreed—only to hear Nemona's voice shouting from outside a few minutes later.
Without hesitation, he had gotten up and rushed out.
And now he was met with the sight of Nemona's Greninja facing off against Zoroark, clearly seconds away from a full-blown battle.
Although Edward wasn't sure what had happened, he quickly stepped in to stop things before they escalated.
"Miss Nemona, please calm down. It's true—Zoroark is the one who played Mizunuma Mimiko," he explained.
Zoroark also looked a little sheepish. It canceled its illusion and shifted into the form of Mizunuma Mimiko. Then, just to show off, it kept morphing—turning into various figures mid-transformation, including even Nemona herself. Nemona could only stare in astonishment.
"This is my secretary, Zoroark," Edward said, rubbing his temples. He'd already figured out what had happened. Clearly, Zoroark had deliberately tried to scare Nemona—only it hadn't expected Nemona to fight back so fiercely, and now it had nearly ended up in a brawl with her Greninja.
Still, as Edward glanced at the agile, well-trained Greninja, he couldn't help but be impressed. Nemona hadn't used this Pokémon during their last battle.
It seemed that, as a Champion-level Trainer, she certainly had more than a few powerful cards up her sleeve. And as the second daughter of the Rotom Company's CEO, she likely had access to plenty of resources, so it made sense she could raise such high-level Pokémon.
"Zoroark?" Nemona blinked in confusion. Of course, she knew about Zoroark—it was famous as the Phantom Pokémon.
But she had never seen a Zoroark that could shapeshift so fluidly and with such accuracy.
"That's right, I'm a Zoroark. Here's my work license," Zoroark said, pulling out a certificate.
For a Pokémon to legally work in the human world, it needed to be certified by the League with an official occupational license. These documents listed all the basic information about the Pokémon and could not be forged.
Edward wasn't surprised at all. He'd seen it before. The license clearly read: Species: Zoroark. Type: Dark. Licensed for professional work.
(End of Chapter)